Allocco diurno, Plate LXXXXIII, engraving from "Storia naturale degli uccelli trattata con metodo e adornata di figure intagliate in rame e miniate al naturale" Print - 1766

Florence, Italy: Giuseppe Vanni, 1766. Print. Very good condition. Period hand-colored copper engraving from the [Natural History of the Birds Treated Systematically and Adorned with Copperplate Engraving Illustrations, in Miniature and Life-Size], 1766-1777. The work carries some interesting historical importance according to Peter Dance: "The production of its five massive folio volumes must have been one of the most remarkable publishing ventures ever undertaken in Florence. Begun in 1767, and [based on birds taken from the collection of Giovanni Gerini], it was completed ten years later. It was larger, better engraved and more vividly coloured than any previous work on birds, but these are not its only claim to fame. The attitudes of the birds themselves give this book its unique character. Strutting, parading, posturing, and occasionally flying....are birds whose real-life counterparts would surely disown them, and not without reason, for Manetti seems in these pictures to be depicting the human comedy, the habits and mannerisms of contemporary Italian society. His book may still be rated among the very greatest bird books, if only for its magnificent comicality" (S. Peter Dance, The Art of Natural History: Animal Illustrators and their Work. London 1978). Approx. 10 5/8 x 13 1/2" (platemark) on watermarked paper measuring 14 1/2 x 18". The original images were drawn by Lorenzo Lorenzi, Violante Vanni, or Manetti himself.